28.5.12

Kim Deal's post- Pixies band The Breeders were doing pretty well in 1994, but Kelley Deal's ongoing problems with heroin addiction, originating in her teens, reached a head when she was arrested for possession in 1994 and entered rehab in 1995. This caused a haitus in The Breeders' career. Kim Deal's next move was to form Tammy Ampersand and the Amps. Kim Deal had originally planned to record this material as a purely solo venture but she recruited The Breeders' drummer Jim Macpherson and two of her long standing friends, Luis Lerma and Nate Farley, to play on the album and tour. The album was well recieved but didn't sell as well as The Breeders' LPs had done.
Classic /v23 design by Vaughan Oliver for 4AD- always the smartest looking records.

24.5.12

Everybody should have a copy of Black Grape's debut album It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah , though I didn't play mine for some time due to strong assosciations with mania and alcoholism. This, their second and last album was somewhat overlooked. There's a couple of belters on here.

20.5.12

The future social organisation must be
made solely from the bottom up, by the free association or federation of
workers, firstly in their unions, then in the communes, regions,
nations and finally in a great federation, international and universal.Mikhail Bakunin

The idea that Bakunin outlined above laid the foundations of Syndicalism, an alternative to authoritarian or state socialism.
One of the key documents relating to syndicalism was published in Tonypandy 100 years ago. Its main author was Noah Ablett (1883 – 1935). Born in Porth and educated at Ruskin College, Oxford, Ablett was employed as a checkweightman at Mardy Colliery, (Maerdy, Rhondda Cynon Taf). The position of checkweightman was one of great responsibilty- elected by the colliers themselves to ensure that they were fairly paid (they were paid by weight of coal cut) and to represent their cause in disputes with the managers. Mardy was a pit that maintained it's strong millitant traditions right up until its closure in 1990, and which was noteworthy during the 1984/85 Miners' Strike as the workers maintained 100% adherence to the strike and loyalty to the cause.

The area's proud radical tradition is also reflected in the fact that it was referred to as Little Moscow, and, in the very year that Thatcher came to power, The Rhondda elected a Communist mayor-Annie Powell (1906-1986).

14.5.12

I know this is lazy blogging. I've got a few good records lined up but my computer is coming to the end of its 'life' and I'm having problems uploading. In the meantime enjoy these two interviews with Bill Drummond, a man I admire greatly.

9.5.12

8.5.12

How I suffered when I had to preach to you those pious lies that I detest in my heart. Meslier

Every honest man should have Meslier's Testament in his pocket.Voltaire

Jean Meslier (1664-1729) was a Catholic priest from the Ardennes. Upon his death it was discovered that he had written a book promoting atheism and denouncing religion, which he described as his Testament to his parishioners. Organized religion, stated Meslier, was but a castle in the air.
Meslier also advocated a rural proto-communism, based on common ownership and mutual cooperation between autonomous communities.
Most prominent among the writers who produced their own (illicit) adaptations of Meslier's lengthy and literally cumbersome work was Voltaire, whose Extraits des sentiments de Jean Meslier (1762), whilst bringing Meslier into the public eye, also did him something of a disservice: Voltaire's book presented Meslier as a deist (like Voltaire himself) rather than an atheist.

Historians argue about who was the first overt, post-Classical
atheist but Meslier was arguably the first to put his name to an
incontrovertibly atheist document. That this important event is largely
unrecognised is due partly to Voltaire who published a grossly distorted “Extract” that portrayed Meslier as a
fellow-deist and entirely suppressed Meslier’s anti-monarchist,
proto-communist opinions.

Diderot's famous And [with] the guts of the last priest let's strangle the neck of the last king (from Dithrambe sur Féte des Rois- c1780)is drawn directly from Meslier's man who ...wished that
all the great men in the world and all the nobility could be hanged, and
strangled with the guts of the priests.
This sentiment, Meslier held, was motivated by the love of justice and truth.

7.5.12

If you know anything at all about Datblygu you'll know about the late John Peel's passion for them, and the exalted position that they hold in Welsh language music. For a group who performed solely in Welsh to record five sessions for JP was a truly remarkable achievement. David R Edwards is still (rightly) regarded as an icon of popular culture and consciousness in Wales.
Dave once told me that he had never seen a penny from the BBC releases. I had the good fortune to see him again not long back, and it's always refreshing to meet such a talented and culturally significant bloke and to realise what a sound and down to earth person he is.
It's somehow in keeping with Datblygu's rather anarchic background
that a retrospective exhibition, Datblygu Trideg, celebrating thirty years since their formation, has been held in a waffle cafe.

There's a Datblygu website (in Welsh) here...
And you can read about the waffle cafe exhibition here
(in English) and here
(in Welsh).